Jeb Bush's Political Liability

OPINION

Our Position: When Will The Governor Say `Enough' To Dcf's Continuing Problems?

August 13, 2002|By Indigo

Gov. Jeb Bush needs to see the Department of Children & Families for what it has become: a giant political liability.

Almost every other week there's a new nightmare development involving DCF. This past weekend, for example, an investigation by the South Florida Sun-Sentinel raised disturbing questions regarding the thoroughness of DCF efforts to find children the agency had listed as abducted by relatives or as runaways. It turns out that some of the youngsters DCF said it couldn't locate for years were found within just a few weeks -- by reporters making phone calls and using public records.

The DCF's lack of diligence in finding these children is astounding. Bear in mind this newest revelation comes on the heels of the disappearance of 5-year-old Rilya Wilson and a host of other embarrassments. Those include the arrest of a DCF worker with a drunken-driving history found passed out in her car with a foster child in the back seat and the agency's inability to account for more than 500 children under its care.

So far the agency's leaders have been sliding by blaming these episodes on misdeeds, individual lapses or the failures of previous administrations. How much of this does Mr. Bush intend to tolerate?

All of these problems reflect poorly on the leadership of Mr. Bush, who promised to clean up DCF. Turning around DCF requires a change of management at the top of the agency. If Mr. Bush doesn't act quickly, his political enemies will use these failures against him in the fall election.